Following his side’s 1-0 loss at Northampton Town, Stevenage boss Graham Westley praised the display of his side and explained a confrontation with a couple of Boro supporters at the end of the match.

The Sky Bet League Two loss was Boro’s second within less than 48 hours; they were beaten 2-1 at non-league Maidstone in an FA Cup first round replay on Thursday night.

Westley said: “It was a hell of a performance from a side that had played just 36 hours before.”

Due to injuries and the short space of time between the fixtures, Westley was forced to make four changes to his starting line-up at the Sixfields Stadium.

“Arsene Wenger knows a thing or two about football and I remember him once saying that if you make more than three changes to your side you’re always risking disorganisation and you’re risking problems especially early on in a game,” said Westley.

“We had no choice, but to make some changes, we made four, and we suffered exactly what he said and what we probably anticipated.

“It’s not easy to make those changes, but it is as it is and we had to face that situation, whether its right or wrong is another matter, but we faced that situation.

“I thought the players were incredible, we conceded during that phase, but for a large part of that game we took the game to the opponents and we looked like we were the side that hadn’t played two days ago and I think the determination and the effort and the quality they showed was incredible.”

Westley had words with a couple of the travelling 309 supporters at the end of the game.

Of the incident he said: “There were a couple of guys who were being very rude and insulting, I’ve got family who sit there, and they were being very rude, obscene and talking to me in a disgusting way, so I went across to them to remind them that they need to be respectful.

“I’m not going to have people talking to me in that way.

“The bulk of the fans were fantastic and they supported the team very well.

“It was great to hear the fans cheer my name after I’d confronted that situation, which should not be allowed to happen, and I hope the people responsible are made to pay for it.”